The acclaimed cosmic ray researcher became a household name by helping to make science more accessible to the general public

Professor Yash Pal, an eminent Indian scientist and popular science communicator, died at his residence in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, on Tuesday. He was 90 years old.

Pal was honored with the Padma Bhushan in 1976 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2013. He was known for being an institution builder and became a household name because of his ability to describe scientific concepts in layman’ s terms.